7 Fun Ways to Celebrate Fall in Arizona

Pumpkin spice and spooky season is finally upon us. Celebrate the autumnal atmosphere with train rides, ghost walks, corn mazes, classic drives, carnival rides, and more.

Travel to a trio of festivals in Willcox.

It’s harvest season in this agricultural haven, and travelers can have their pick of a handful of events. Every weekend in October, Apple Annie’s Orchard hosts their Fall Pumpkin Celebration. You can roll through a pumpkin patch on a hayride and select your Halloween jack-o-lantern, pluck sunflowers and veggies from the fields, and lead your family and friends through a 600,000-stalk corn maze. If you’re in Willcox October 4-6, pair your u-pick outing with Rex Allen Days, which corrals a carnival, parade, rodeos, cowboy poetry, music, and dancing. October 18-20, the Willcox Wine Festival toasts the state’s largest grape-growing region with tastings from 17 wineries, arts and crafts vendors, vino workshops, food trucks, and live music.

Celebrate Día de los Muertos in Tucson.

The Aztecs had long honored their dead for a month in summer before the Spanish invaded Mexico and moved the festivities to November to merge them with All Saints Day. Thus, Día de los Muertos was born. As it was for the Aztecs, the festival remains a colorful, vibrant celebration of life and the memories of those who have gone before us. At Tucson’s version of the holiday, the All Souls Procession (November 3), you can march with mariachi players, skeleton-faced drummers, revelers smudging the air with sage smoke, and thousands of people carrying posters and photos memorializing their loved ones. You can also add offerings and wishes to an urn that will be ceremonially burned at the end of the 2-mile procession.

Party with pigs, pumpkins, and vintage rides in Queen Creek.

A windfall of activities awaits at Schnepf Farms’ Pumpkin & Chili Party, every Thursday to Sunday, October 3-31. The kids can get their thrills on a roller coaster, ziplines, and a flying farmer ride, then chill at a petting zoo, mini golf course, and dog agility show. Shriek inside ScaryTales—a haunted attraction that dials up the creepy side of “Hansel and Gretel” and the “Three Little Pigs.” Then squeal with delight as you watch cute little porkers hotfoot around a paddock during Hillbilly Bob’s Pig Racing. Fuel up with grilled succotash and pumpkin chili before hopping on a hayride and heading to the 4-acre corn maze.

Collect candy from giant balloons in Scottsdale.

During the Spooktacular Hot Air Balloon Festival (October 25-27), Salt River Fields baseball arena glows with the kaleidoscopic colors of 20 flame-lit hot air balloons. You can take tethered rides to see the extravaganza from on high, or just trick-or-treat between the balloons, which dole out a staggering 4,000 pounds of candy. Kids can bounce in inflatable houses and zoom down more than 30 slides. Adults and children can compete for prizes in Halloween costume contests and get goosebumps on the Spook Trail, designed by local high school students. On Friday and Saturday nights, a fireworks show paints the event with even more color.

Get spooked in Jerome.

During Jerome’s copper mining heyday in the late 1800s and early 1900s, many lives were cut short. Catastrophic fires and diseases raged through the streets. Miners perished under falling rocks and explosions. And the folks who gave the “Wickedest Town in the West” its nickname sometimes murdered each other. As a result, scores of restless souls still allegedly haunt the historic buildings. On the annual Jerome Ghost Walk (October 4-5), the Jerome Historical Society offers a chance to encounter these specters and hear their stories. Alternatively, Ghost Town Tours hosts daily one-hour Spirit Walks featuring eerie tales and electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors. Tours of Jerome guides two-hour evening walks, when you might glimpse orbs or streaks of light, hear disembodied voices, and sense other paranormal activity with your EMF machine.

All aboard for autumnal color, ales, and apparitions in Clarkdale.

October’s crisp temperatures transform the Verde River Valley’s cottonwoods and sycamores into a glimmering stream of gold and amber. On the Verde Canyon Railroad’s Fall Colors Tour, you can kick back on loveseats or bistro chairs and gaze through panoramic windows at the interplay of turquoise sky, russet cliffs, and yellow leaves. The autumnal color continues inside the train during Ales on Rails (through October 31), when you can celebrate Oktoberfest with amber and blond craft beers. On Fright Nights (Fridays and Saturdays through Halloween), hop aboard the depot’s haunted railcar, which is swarming with skeletons, phantoms, and snakes.

Leaf-peep in Sedona and Flagstaff.

This road trip marries Arizona’s most iconic fall drives with a high-flying ride above the foliage. Before you go, check the Leaf-o-meter to see the latest updates on tree color in both cities. From Sedona, cruise north on Highway 89A along Oak Creek Canyon, then twizzle around the mountains at 25 mph as you breathe the forest air and delight in scarlet maples, auburn sumacs, and saffron oaks. Pass through Flagstaff and continue northeast on Highway 89 to begin the Around the Peaks Loop drive. You’ll find a bounty of photo-ops on the 50-mile route, from snow-capped Mount Humphreys to Hart Prairie’s fluttering, butterscotch-hued aspens. Toward the end of the loop, side trip to Arizona Snowbowl to soar over glorious golden forests in a gondola.